I don’t think 2024 was a great year for video games.
Don’t get me wrong, the games themselves were great! But for the industry? For the medium? Ehh.
For starters, AAA titles – arguably the releases that provide shape and form to a year of gaming – either arrived with no impact or failed to show up at all. Outside of Astro Bot, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Indiana Jones, there wasn’t anything rock solid to hold onto last year; no Baldur’s Gate 3 or Tears of The Kingdom to point to as the blockbuster that dominated the zeitgeist in 2024.
This is probably due to 2023 being such a bumper year, an admittedly tough act for 2024 to follow in terms of sheer quantity alone. But as AAA budgets balloon, publishers find it increasingly difficult to maintain their previous cadence of enormous blockbuster releases. It’s not possible, or sustainable, to release multiple titles of the size or fidelity expected from a AAA studio every single year.
And, indeed, the effects of that intense capitalistic pressure were never clearer than they were in 2024. Much like 2023, last year was defined by layoffs across all areas of video games, from development and publishing to PR and media. It was hard to enjoy games without being acutely aware of the rot that continues to fester and spread within the heart of the hobby. Games are becoming harder to make, and the human cost continues to grow.
We are, also, finally at the end of the Switch’s lifecycle, with Nintendo now confirming that its long-awaited successor will break cover at some point in 2025. Clearly holding back its big hitters for that next piece of hardware, Nintendo had an understandably fallow year when it came to new games. Experimental Zelda aside, Nintendo relied heavily on remakes and third-party releases to prop up its ageing system. Which isn’t a bad thing! But it says a lot about how Nintendo’s smaller, quirkier games can strengthen the weakest of release schedules. Their absence was felt a lot in 2024.
So what defined 2024? Indie games, for sure, with a handful breaking through into the mainstream thanks to the vacuum left by AAA towards the end of the year. But even then, I’d argue that many of 2024’s best indies didn’t receive the attention they deserved due to a dying games media and a fragmented internet. It’s been harder than ever to feel like you’re involved in culture as it’s happening, making it difficult to uncover gems that may have once fallen into your lap via social media or specialist publications.
More than anything, I think a sense of bitterness and fatigue defined 2024. It’s difficult to appreciate the Coliseum while Rome burns around you, but to feel the heat is healthy, I think. It reminds you of what is at stake.
Still, I played a lot of really great games in 2024! These are the 10 that left the biggest impression on me.
10. Shogun Showdown
I really liked Balatro, but I didn’t love it as much as everyone else seemed to. Instead, my roguelike of choice in 2024 was the excellent Shogun Showdown, a game so good it made me accidentally do a games journalism again.
I loved how fast-paced this was despite being turn-based. With its focus on positioning and movement, Shogun Showdown is a game that sees you twisting, weaving and leaping across the limited number of tiles available to you to cut down your enemies before they do the same to you. It’s as exhilarating as anything that plays out in real time, and its generous selection of weapons and modifiers that unlock after every run make this a moreish game to pick up whenever you have a free 15 minutes.
9. Minishoot’ Adventures
I picked up Minishoot’ Adventures on a whim during the summer and was shocked to discover a sublime adventure game that combined classic Zelda-like exploration with the screen-filling bullet hell combat of a shmup. I’ve seen a lot of people pass on this one thinking they won’t like the bullet-hell bit of it, and I do get that. But as someone who was convinced there wasn’t a shmup out there I wouldn’t hate, I was impressed by how elegantly Minishoot’ showcased the thrills of the genre in an accessible and approachable way. By the end, I was fully convinced. A real gem.
8. UFO 50
I didn’t love every game within UFO 50, but few things brought me as much joy in 2024 as this collection of 50 retro-inspired titles. As much as anything, it was a testament to how less is more, and the ways in which creativity can thrive despite visual and technical constraints.
Party House is the clear winner for me, personally, a deck-builder about hosting a string of escalating shindigs in an attempt to coax a series of unusual VIPs to stop by before a deadline. A game-of-the-year contender all on its own, the fact it exists alongside 49 other full-fledged games is bonkers. I suspect I’ll be dipping back into this one frequently for the next few years. What a thing.
7. I Am Your Beast
The best Hotline Miami-inspired game since, well, Hotline Miami, I Am Your Beast is a frenetic first-person shooter about fighting back against the military-industrial machine. Shooting soldiers in snow-covered killboxes is exciting, but it’s the narrative that really sets this one apart. As Alphonse Harding, your peaceful retirement is jeopardised by the arrival of your former unit and the offer of one last job. But when “no” isn’t taken for an answer, you have no choice but to take the fight to those you once fought alongside.
It’s a story that leaves one hell of an impact, an impressive feat considering it’s communicated solely via narration and text overlayed across a scenic background. It’s a testament to developer Xalavier Nelson Jr.’s skills as a writer (and as the voice of Alphonse, his prowess as a voice actor) that despite its lean presentation it’s no less memorable a tale.
6. Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster
A true heart pick, I had a wonderful time replaying Dead Rising last year thanks to this lavish remaster that blurred the line between re-release and remake. Recreated in the same engine that has powered CAPCOM’s recent string of Resident Evil titles, the Willamette Parkview Mall has never looked better thanks to a considered art pass that brings its plazas, courtyards, and stores into the modern era without losing any of their original charm.
Sure, it’s not without its flaws. It remains a technical disaster on PC, the new voice acting doesn’t hold a candle to the original mix, and the modern visuals come at the cost of how many zombies are rendered on screen at the same time. The last point is a pretty unforgivable decision considering, you know, that’s kind of Dead Rising’s whole deal. Still, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love every second I spent disemboweling zombies and photographing stickers on bookshop windows. Thanks for making this just for me, CAPCOM. I appreciate it.
Now do the same for the second one. Cheers.
5. Thank Goodness You’re Here!
Any game that parodied Greggs stood a good chance of making it into my top 5, but Thank Goodness You’re Here! is more than just reference humour for those born north of Manchester. Every inch of Barnsworth, the fictional Yorkshire village you slap your way around, contains a joke. Like the bird watcher whispering that they’re looking for tits. Or the milk-shy tea drinker who wishes to bathe in the white liquid alongside the very cow who produced it. Or the man pushing sausages through a hole in a fence. Or Big Ron, in his entirety.
Thank Goodness You’re Here! just wants to make you laugh, and it succeeds at every turn. But it’s also a love letter to the failing project that is England, one that’s well-observed without being condescending. It all stems from that most northern of character traits: the ability to laugh at the flaws of your home with a genuine sense of pride. Sure, it’s a shit hole. But it’s our shit hole.
4. Crow Country
2024 was a big year for horror indies that riffed on the visual aesthetics of original PlayStation games, but few appealed to my specific tastes as much as Crow Country. This is the best survival horror built in the Resident Evil mold I’ve played since… well, the original Resident Evil trilogy. Crow Country understands that once its scares have lost their edge, mastery becomes your goal. It encourages you to learn its space, uncover its secrets, and attempt to finish its scenario as quickly as possible.
I clocked this three times back to back. SFB Games, I’m begging you: Please make a sequel to this wonderful game.
3. Indiana Jones And The Great Circle
I’m not really an Indiana Jones guy. I like the original movies, and I’ve watched them many times over the years, but I’m not a passionate fan by any stretch.
Unsurprisingly, I wasn’t very excited about The Great Circle when it was first announced. I suspect this total lack of expectations is precisely how Indy managed to sneak up on me as quietly as it did, knocking me over the head with a sledgehammer before throwing my limp body into a tomb. This is one of the most exciting AAA games I’ve played in ages. It’s a globe-trotting adventure about raiding uncharted tombs, and yet it is distinctly its own thing. It’s a slower, more considered game, stuffed full of puzzles and wide-open areas for you to explore at your own pace. A mature blockbuster that is the best thing Xbox has published since. Uh. Hold on, I’m sure I can think of something.
I’ll get back to you.
2. Astro Bot
I’ve seen a few people get a little sniffy about Astro Bot since it scooped up a load of awards towards the tail end of 2024. I can understand it to an extent – the argument that this feels more like marketing than similar brand celebrations such as Smash Bros. does carry weight – but also, christ, is having a bit of fun illegal now? In a year where engaging with games came with a built-in feeling of misery, it was a treat to play something so full of joy. From the second you boot up Astro bot to the moment you pop the platinum trophy, it never lets its foot off the accelerator. It is perfectly paced, each level focused on an inventive idea that is thrown away for something new once it’s run out of juice.
It’s not quite Nintendo quality (and in a year made up of strong 8s, I do wonder if Astro Bot has been celebrated for being the closest thing we had to a 9) but ah, regardless, what a game!
1. 1000xResist
1000xResist is a triumph of narrative design, featuring a story so confident in its ideas, themes and intentions that it simply must be experienced to truly understand just how much of an achievement it truly is. It’s a rare science-fiction piece that uses its genre to enrich its messages about the present, and more importantly, the recent past.
Centering around a society of clones, an alien-borne pandemic, and a god-like figure, Resist does not rely on tropes. It establishes a truly original world, one that slowly unspools as you journey through the underground city you call home and the memories of the young woman you and your fellow sisters are cloned from.
I won’t say any more. Just play it. It’s the medium at its best, and as such, the greatest game I played in 2024 by a wide margin.
Honorable mentions
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
The only Switch game I played to completion this year (one of three Switch games I played full stop, actually) and it was fine! My partner and I played it together, and although I enjoyed it enough, she hated the majority of it to the point where she regrets starting it in the first place. lol.
Supermarket Simulator / TCG Card Shop Simulator
Two games, built on the same Unity asset pack, both defined my year in unusual ways. They’re janky and odd, but stocking shelves and serving customers is a pair of interactions I found endlessly soothing regardless of whether I was selling bread or knock-off Pokemon cards.
Balatro
I liked Balatro! I played a lot of it! Please don’t take my indie game podcast away from me!
Destiny 2: The Final Shape
I played a lot of Destiny 2 in 2024, exclusively with my pal, Ed, who lives on the opposite end of the country. As such, it sort of faded into the background as we treated it like a big fidget cube. The Final Shape was an enjoyable bit of nonsense that we had a fun time rattling through, and it felt nice to see the game – which I’ve played on and off since launch – to what unfortunately looks to be its conclusion. No game does headshots better than Destiny. I’ll miss it, but I’m not sad to finally let it go.
Any spelling mistakes, grammatical errors or badly phrased sentences in this post are all intentional. Cheers.